Coffin of Nedjemankh

The Metropolitan Museum of Art has returned a stolen antiquity from its collection: The Gold Coffin of Nedjemankh. The ancient gilded coffin was acquired by the Metropolitan in 2017 for $3.95m. The Gold Coffin of Nedjemankh dates to between 150 and 50 B.C. The coffin is a gilded ancient Egyptian coffin from the late Ptolemaic Period. It once encased the mummy of Nedjemankh, a high priest of the ram-god Heryshaf. It is made of a combination of cartonnage (linen, glue, and gesso), paint, gold, silver, resin, glass, wood, and leaded bronze. The lid is covered with vignettes illustrating funerary spells and texts aimed at guiding the priest on his journey to eternal life. The elaborately decorated coffin was returned in 2019 to Egypt, where it was displayed at the Grand Egyptian Museum in Cairo.

In 2018, Kim Kardashian helped solve the criminal case featuring the golden coffin, forged documents and a trafficking ring. Thieves had stolen the coffin and sold it to the Metropolitan Museum of Art using fake documentation. An informing looter had seen the image of Kardashian and the coffin because it had gone viral and recognized the artifact. He had not been paid.